


Fireworks

by EthelPhantom



Category: Code Geass
Genre: Also kinda canon divergence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Confessions, Feelings, First Kisses, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, I've been working on this since New Year's Eve, M/M, as in Nunnally can see, i don't know what happened, it was supposed to be happy, that explains the fireworks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-25 19:52:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18581446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EthelPhantom/pseuds/EthelPhantom
Summary: Sometimes, you might store your memories even in fireworks and hope that you’ll remember the comfort they bring you forever.(Alternatively, Lelouch makes fireworks his way to remember his happiness until the end)





	Fireworks

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guess once have I been working on this since the New Year's Eve and did I mean for it to be purely happy? 
> 
> Because the answer to both of those is yes. I also meant to finish and post this months ago but oh well.
> 
> Also Nunnally isn't blind in this one because I needed those lines for her (you'll understand what I mean once you read it). She's still disabled though. I just thought that since her blindness is psychosomatic, I could take it away for this one.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

All the beautiful colours dancing on the dark sky brought happy memories to Lelouch’s mind. They reminded him of his friends who were so colourful, so warm, so accepting. They brought so much happiness to his life, and to Lelouch — even if he would never _ever_ admit it out loud within their hearing range, especially Milly’s — they were the most important things that had ever existed.

Sure, the fireworks were dangerous if you went too close to them, and so were human beings, but then again, why should that mean you had to stay too far away from them either? If you weren’t close enough, you couldn’t see their beauty, nor could you help them light up the sky and brighten the night.

Lelouch guessed he was kind of like the fireworks, too. He didn’t think he was colourful or could really bring joy that way to anyone, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to be the one bringing a smile to his loved ones’ faces (especially his sister’s and best friend’s), because he really did. He loved hearing their laughter and seeing the way their eyes lit up when they were happy. He loved them, they were his reason to live. And besides, if there was someone actually dangerous in the Student Council, someone who not just could but also would hurt you if you got too close, it was Lelouch himself and no one else. In that sense, he was the closest to fireworks a person could be out of them all.

There was still something he missed on that otherwise so beautiful night. His best friend and little sister. They were the dearest to him in the entire world, and he wasn’t sure how he could go on if he lost them. He knew they were inside, only mere ten metres from him, so he could have easily gone to them, but the cool night breeze playing with his hair made him want to stay, and so he decided against leaving.

Aside from the exploding sounds of the fireworks that echoed in the skies, it was quiet. Well, at least until the comforting almost-silence was broken by steps that were coming towards him from behind him. With no one else around, the steps seemed to resound all around him. Lelouch rushed to turn around and was met by a pair of emerald green eyes. The gentle grin spread on the Japanese boy’s face was enough to force a smile on Lelouch’s own lips as well. Then he felt warm hands taking his own and noticed his younger sister’s kind smile facing up at him. She had somehow wheeled to him without Lelouch even noticing.

“Lelouch, what are you still doing out here? It’s cold already, you might catch a cold like you kept doing as a child”, Suzaku said, looking straight into Lelouch’s eyes. He didn’t sound too worried about it, so Lelouch deliberately decided to ignore that.

“I’m enjoying the night”, he answered and turned to look at the sky again. Lelouch leaned on the railing with his hands. The metal it was made of was cold, and Lelouch was sure his own hands would be cold soon as well because of it. Suzaku pushed Nunnally’s wheelchair next to him and walked to his other side after that.

“Big brother, what might you be thinking? You seem to be deep in your thoughts, with your brow furrowed like that and all”, the sweet young girl said smiling and leaned to her brother’s side.

“Life. People. My friends. You two”, he stated as though it was the most normal thing in the world for him to do. In truth, he just hadn’t thought his words through at all before opening his mouth to speak, which was very unusual of him. The night was truly making him do things he usually could have never done, but then again, he was with the ones he loved the most in the entirety of the world so maybe it wasn’t so bad. They deserved to know he thought of them.

“Really?” The excitement in her voice was clear, and it was, somehow, comforting to Lelouch. Nunnally got happy from such simple things, and those things often brought a smile to her face. Now it was Lelouch who had made her smile, and he loved it.

“Yes.”

Then, Lelouch felt a hand on his right shoulder and upon turning to look at his friend, he saw Suzaku looking at him with the softest expression he had ever seen on his face until now, smiling.

“Lelouch?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you. For everything.”

“What do you mean? For what?”

Suzaku turned his eyes to gaze at the sky and said thoughtfully, “I don’t know. For being you. For welcoming me back with open arms after we were reunited. For being my friend. For…”

He stopped talking abruptly, looking a bit uncomfortable. Suzaku seemed to have decided that whatever it was he had been about to say wasn’t something he should say at all. Lelouch reached up to hold his hand, the one still on his shoulder, trying to comfort Suzaku. He didn’t want his best friend to feel unsure about whether he could tell Lelouch anything and so he shot Suzaku a look that pretty much said “we’re talking about this later” as soon as Suzaku glanced back at him again.

“For what?”, they heard a soft voice ask from behind them. And how in the world had they forgotten Nunnally was listening to them the whole time?

“Ah, I actually forgot what I was about to say”, Suzaku laughed and rubbed his neck. There was that one certain tone in his voice that Lelouch could without a doubt recognise as the one that was present and audible whenever Suzaku was lying, no matter how small or big the lie was. But, since Lelouch didn’t want to be the reason Suzaku felt uncomfortable, ever, he didn’t pressure Suzaku to say anything. He didn’t even mention that he knew Suzaku was hiding something.

“Oh, okay.”

Lelouch watched his two dearest people look at the stars and listen to the sounds of the night. It made him smile. He was so glad these two were there with him, in his life. His world would have been so different, so empty, and so much colder if they weren’t in his life.

Suddenly Nunnally spoke again. “You know, when big brother and I went outside at night for the first time after you and we were separated, the sky was clear and full of stars. We hadn’t gone stargazing before that because it reminded us too much about you, Suzaku — after all, the three of us used to do it a lot back at the Kururugi Shrine —, but then we thought that maybe you too were looking at the same sky with us, just from a different place, and decided to go. “

Lelouch remembered the night she was talking about as well as he could remember the previous day. It had been only one of the many, many sleepless nights they both had to go through back then. Nunnally had cried to Lelouch’s shirt as he hugged her tightly. They had both missed Suzaku a lot and wished he was there with them. And since Lelouch wasn’t as open about his feelings as Nunnally was, he had only allowed himself to cry after confirming Nunnally was sound asleep hours later.

“Well, I saw a shooting star that night, and because you’re supposed to wish for something if you see one, I did. You know what I wished for? I wished for us to be able to reunite again one day, and that that day we would all be happy. That was all I wanted. I think that it had now become true, for we are together again and we are happy, right?”

Suzaku chuckled and kneeled next to Nunnally. “Yeah, we are”, he said and smiled softly, which made Nunnally smile even wider. It made Lelouch happy to see that the two he loved were both smiling and got along together so well. There was nothing in the world he wouldn't do or wasn’t willing to sacrifice for them, nor was there anything he would trade them for. They were the light of his life.

Lelouch decided that if he was being this emotional today (as if he wasn’t almost always even if tended not to show it), he could just as well be emotional out loud and tell Suzaku and Nunnally he loved them. They probably knew it, but maybe it was good if they got to hear it from him from time to time. They deserved to know and be told they were loved and appreciated and important to him.

“I love you two so much, I’m glad I got to have you two in my life.”

Suzaku whipped his head around to see Lelouch. He had such an unbelieving expression painted over his face that it looked like he couldn’t believe a word coming out of Lelouch’s mouth — or maybe it was that he really couldn’t believe Lelouch had actually _said_ it out loud. Nunnally just smiled happily at him.

“I love you too, big brother!”

Lelouch smiled. He enjoyed hearing that his sister loved him, even if he knew it without being told. Then he realised it was late, Nunnally shouldn’t be up and awake at this point anymore and checked what the time was from his phone.

“It’s nearing one in the morning, we should go inside — and I think you should go to sleep, Nunnally”, he said after placing his phone back in his pocket.

Nunnally yawned and nodded. “I probably should, I was tired anyway. Goodnight big brother, goodnight Suzaku. I’ll see you in the morning”, she said smiling and waved to Suzaku. Suzaku waved back and gave her a light hug.

“I’ll be back soon, Suzaku. Do you want to wait for me here or in the kitchen?”, Lelouch asked as he turned to go tuck Nunnally in bed.

“I can wait in the kitchen. I’ll see you soon?”

“Yes, soon.”

Lelouch pushed Nunnally inside, and Suzaku followed them so that Lelouch could be sure the door was locked for the night. It was one of the many things Lelouch liked about Suzaku, he did those things just to make sure Lelouch and Nunnally would be more comfortable and could be assured they were safe. Lelouch was fairly sure he did it without even really thinking about it by now. Lelouch could have sworn that he had never even asked Suzaku to do it, which meant he knew Lelouch and Nunnally well enough to just do it.

Suzaku turned around the corner and went downstairs where the kitchen was after saying one more ‘goodnight’ to Nunnally, while Lelouch and Nunnally went towards her bedroom. He lifted her up and carried her to her bed after moving the blanket so that he could soon put it over her.

“Big brother, you should tell Suzaku how you feel”, Nunnally said after Lelouch had tucked her under the warm covers. She smiled sweetly, and Lelouch could have just melted then and there, at least before he realised what she had said.

“Wha—? I do— I don’t know what you mean!”, he rushed to say, only to see Nunnally chuckle. He felt his cheeks warming up, embarrassed. Why did she have to know how to fluster him? At least she didn’t do it in other people’s presence.

“I’m sure you do, big brother. Goodnight, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Lelouch kissed Nunnally’s forehead. “Goodnight, little sister. Call for me or Sayoko if you need anything.”

Then Lelouch returned to Suzaku, this time joining him in the kitchen. When he arrived, Suzaku was reading a book Lelouch had earlier left on the table (planning to make Suzaku read it, actually, this was just perfect), only looking up when Lelouch opened one of the cupboards to get both of them glasses.

“Oh, hi Lelouch, I hope you don’t mind that I was reading this”, Suzaku said, holding up the book he had been reading a second ago.

Lelouch shook his head and smiled. “No, it’s fine. I was going to have you read it anyway, it’s just better if it interested you enough for you to decide you wanted to read it on your own”, he replied and brought the glasses to table, now full of water. Suzaku took one of the glasses and chugged half of it in one sitting.

“So, about earlier…”

“What do you mean earlier?”, Suzaku asked and tilted his head to the side.

Lelouch honestly wasn’t sure whether he was pretending he didn’t know what Lelouch meant, or if he honestly didn’t know. He could usually read Suzaku fairly well, but then there were these times he had a few options what was going on with Suzaku, and Suzaku’s behaviour at the time could have been any of them. That boy could really be confusing sometimes. Lelouch could have sworn Suzaku didn’t even realise he was confusing.

Lelouch groaned. “I mean, back when we were at the roof, you all of a sudden stopped in the midst of a sentence and then claimed to have forgotten what it was. I _know_ you didn’t forget.”

Suzaku’s eyes widened and a blush rose to his cheeks. “You do?”

“Yes, you can’t really hide things like that from me. What I do _not_ know is what it is you were about to say, or why you lied about forgetting. And I’d like to know. You do know that you can tell me anything, and that I wouldn’t think ill of you no matter what, right?”

“Yeah, I know that.”

“Then will you tell me now?”

Suzaku didn’t answer him, only looked away from Lelouch. It seemed as though he was avoiding Lelouch’s gaze, as though he was ashamed of whatever he thought of.

“Suzaku?”

“I— I was going to confess, I think…”, Suzaku mumbled and looked like he was deliberately trying to avoid Lelouch at all costs. The thought that Suzaku was doing that seemed more probable by every passing second.

“Okay, then— wait what? Confess?”

“...Yeah.”

“What do you mean?”

Lelouch did understand what Suzaku said perfectly well, but it just seemed so impossible. How could he? And why?

Suzaku shook his head. “How can a genius like you be so clueless?”, he asked, and kissed Lelouch.

Okay so maybe it was more like Suzaku’s lips crashed with Lelouch’s rather than a kiss, but still. Everything went silent, and the only thing Lelouch could hear was Suzaku’s breaths. One of Suzaku’s hands was behind Lelouch’s head, pulling him closer. Lelouch himself was simply shocked.

Suzaku let go of him as quickly as he had grabbed him and looked scared now. He stumbled a step backwards. “I— I’m sorry, Lelouch! I— I’ll go now”, he said and tried to get past Lelouch but as he was about to pass him, Lelouch grabbed his wrist.

“Where do you think you’re going? You cannot simply kiss someone and then think you can get away without talking first”, Lelouch said, looking at the wall in front of him since Suzaku was half behind him already. Only his grip on Suzaku’s wrist was keeping Suzaku fleeing. Not that Suzaku couldn’t have gotten away from it since he was far stronger than Lelouch was, but it made him stop and that’s all that mattered right now.

“What do you want me to say? I already apologised. Do you need to humiliate me for this, or—”

“God, no. Get back here and sit down.”

Suzaku did as Lelouch asked him to, satisfying Lelouch. Now he had a chance to tell Suzaku he liked him back — which, to be honest, he had only realised because of what Nunnally said and that kiss.

“Great. Now, let’s talk. So, I take that you like me?”, Lelouch asked, quirking his eyebrow. He just needed confirmation.

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? Actually, never mind that, we can address your tendency to over apologise some time later. What makes you think I don’t like you back?”

“You froze when I kissed you and seemed shocked, I guess. And how could someone like you who could get anyone you wanted like someone like me?”

And now that answered Lelouch’s question pretty well. He hadn’t exactly given him a precise answer, but it told Lelouch that a lot of it was Suzaku’s insecurities speaking, as well as the mindset that he didn’t deserve anything good ever. It explained a lot, actually.

“Well then, surprise, I do like you back.”

“Wait what?”

Lelouch sighed and walked towards Suzaku. “I said, I like you back. Do I need to say it again? Because I will if it means making you believe it.”

“But—”

“And as to why I froze, I was shocked. You can’t expect someone not to be shocked when another person just kisses them out of blue. That doesn’t yet tell you I don’t like you.”

Suzaku let out a sigh (of relief, possibly?) and smiled. So how had Lelouch never realised he indeed liked Suzaku if he now thought that smile spread on his face lit up the entire world? Or, at least some of it, because Nunnally too— yeah that would explain it because he knew for sure he harboured no romantic feelings towards his sister and he just thought it was always a normal, very platonic thing that happened with those closest to you.

“So, are we dating then?”, Suzaku asked uncertainty in his voice again. Did he never realise he was allowed to be selfish sometimes, too?

“Yes, that sounds good”, Lelouch answered and tried to fight back a smile when Suzaku’s smile grew even wider and happier and he took Lelouch’s hands in his. Not that he succeeded at keeping the smile gone. Maybe it was never possible to do it in the first place.

The beautiful colours dancing on the dark sky, albeit now behind the window, the fireworks that didn’t cease, they became now a sign of another happy memory. They would always remind him of his friends, yes, but even more so they would always remind him of this moment, of Suzaku’s warm hands and gentle, happy smile. He would always remember this moment and treasure it, and later on often when he was feeling anxious, he tried to see those colourful fireworks in his mind.

  


...

  


He would remember the fireworks and that happy, calming feeling even when he felt warm crimson blood staining his white robes only a year later as his ears were filled with terrified, horrified and heart-wrenching screaming of Nunnally.

**Author's Note:**

> To quote my friend on her reaction to me ending this fic with an angsty(-ish?) sentence: “Youre like. The angst Machine”. I just told her I ended up turning this all much sadder with one last sentence and made a few rhetorical questions (which were "How did I do this???" and "a better yet question, WHY DID I DO THIS??") because even I don't know why I keep doing that. 
> 
> Comments and Kudos make my day, so don't be afraid to drop your thoughts on this thing!


End file.
